Accused Florida school shooter confesses, went to Subway, McDonald's after massacre

Suspected school shooter Nikolas Cruz makes a video appearance in Broward County court before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica on Thursday. Cruz is facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Susan Stocker / Sun Sentinel)

Nikolas Cruz (Broward County Sheriff's Office / Sun Sentinel)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz admitted his guilt to detectives, saying he discarded his AR-15 rifle and ammunition magazines at the scene and escaped by blending into the crowd of fleeing students, according to arrest reports.

After slipping away, he went to a Subway inside a nearby Walmart for a drink, then headed to a McDonald's before he was arrested without incident by an officer who recognized his description.

He arrived on campus at 2:19 p.m. Wednesday in an Uber car, whose driver has since spoken with detectives.

As he walked through the school, shooting students, teachers and staff, he fired "well over" 100 shots, according to a law enforcement source.

"Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds," states a report from the Broward Sheriff's Office. "Cruz stated that he brought additional loaded magazines to the school and kept them hidden in a backpack until he got on campus to begin his assault."

Here are other developments:

— Suspected murder weapon legally purchased in Broward County: Cruz bought the AR-15 rifle allegedly used in in the shootings at Sunrise Tactical Supply, in a strip mall in Coral Springs. At the store Thursday afternoon, a "closed" sign was on the door and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were inside. A National Rifle Association sign in the window read "from my cold dead hands." A bumper sticker in window says "God Bless Our Troops ... Especially our snipers."

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Peter Forcelli, the special agent in charge of the ATF in South Florida, said Cruz had purchased the gun legally. "Because he's over the age of 18, he can legally purchase an AR-15." The arrest report said Cruz bought it last year. "Once you hit your 18th birthday, you can legally buy a rifle, if you pass the background check," Forcelli said. "Once you hit your 21st birthday, you can buy a handgun."

Some of the restrictions on gun purchases include if someone has been formally adjudicated mentally "defective" by a court. One loophole is if a person voluntarily seeks mental health treatment, a measure designed to encourage people to seek help. Illegal immigrants are also barred from purchasing guns.

"He was ticking none of those boxes," said Forcelli.

— Victims list: A list of all 17 people killed appears in a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report.

Outside the Broward Medical Examiner's Office, families huddled, signed forms and called funeral homes to make arrangements for pickups of the deceased and funerals that will start as early as Friday.

— White supremacist connection: Cruz had been a member of a small, Florida-based white supremacist group, participating in paramilitary training exercises in the Tallahassee area, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a group that monitors racist organizations.

The group, called Republic of Florida, describes itself as a "white civil rights organization fighting for white identitarian politics" and seeks to create a "white ethnostate" in Florida, according to the Anti-Defamation League's website.

A member of Republic of Florida, Jordan Jereb, told the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, that Cruz was associated with the group but said no one with the group told him to do anything like the school shooting, the nonprofit said in a blog post.

"It's not confirmed at this time," he said. "We've heard that. We're looking into that."

— Encounter with killer: Freshman Chris McKenna came face-to-face with a killer on a second floor hallway at the Parkland high school. McKenna, 15, was on his way to use a bathroom when he saw Cruz loading his weapon.

"You'd better get out of here," Cruz said, according to McKenna. "Things are gonna start getting messy."

McKenna froze for a second — then fled.

— Cruz described as odd: Although some students described Cruz as a normal teenager, others and some of his neighbors called him strange, troubled and depressed.

A firearms enthusiast whose adoptive mother died last November, Cruz talked about shooting lizards, squirrels and frogs, said Trevor Hart, who knew him from Spanish class and said he seemed "a little off." Police were called to his house numerous times, said a former neighbor, Shelby Speno, and he was seen shooting at a neighbor's chickens.

"He wore a hoodie and always had his head down," said Janine Kartiganer, a former neighbor. "He looked depressed."

— Court hearing: Cruz was ordered held without bond Thursday afternoon, after a brief hearing in which he stood with his head down in a heavily guarded Fort Lauderdale courtroom.

Wearing orange jail scrubs and shackled at the waist and ankles, he spoke once, saying, "Yes, ma'am," when Judge Kim Mollica asked if he understood the charges.

— Cruz on suicide watch: Before the hearing, Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes, whose agency is defending him, described Cruz as a "deeply troubled child who has endured a lot of emotional trauma in a short period of time." He has been placed on suicide watch.

— Warning to FBI: The FBI was alerted last fall about a person named Nikolas Cruz who vowed online to become "a professional school shooter." The name was the same as the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people in Wednesday's rampage in Parkland.

FBI special agent in charge Robert Lasky said at a news conference Thursday that the agency was alerted in September about a comment on a YouTube channel. A YouTube user, Ben Bennight, told CNN that he called the FBI, but nothing came of it.

— Gov. Rick Scott plans guns initiative: Scott said Thursday he planned to meet with legislative leaders next week to discuss bills to make schools safe and keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

— Sheriff's deputy injured at false shooting report: Several false copycat incidents were reported at local schools Thursday, the sheriff said. He warned that all will be taken seriously and investigated, with the perpetrators prosecuted to the fullest extent for causing such a waste of law enforcement resources. A deputy accidentally fired a shot and injured himself in the leg Thursday while investigating an unfounded report of a shooting at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek.

— President addresses nation: President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday morning about the shooting, denouncing the "terrible violence, hatred and evil" of the attack and promising to visit Parkland. "Our entire nation, with one heavy heart, is praying for the victims and their families," he said. He said he would be meeting with state officials later this month to talk about how to make schools safer.

— Pope Francis issues statement: "His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland," says a statement issued through the Archdiocese of Miami. "Assuring all those affected by this devastating attack of his spiritual closeness, he prays that Almighty God may grant eternal rest to the dead and healing and consolation to the wounded and those who grieve."

Young women reach the overpass at Coral Springs Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway just south of the campus of Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday in Parkland, Fla., after a shooting. (Amy Beth Bennett / Sun Sentinel)

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